


oh, how my heart yearns for you

by eddie_writes



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Ben Hanscom is a Good Friend, Canon-Typical Violence, During the 27 Years (IT), Eddie Kaspbrak Lives, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak is So Done, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier In Love, F/M, Love Confessions, M/M, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier is a Mess, Romance, Stanley Uris Lives, Stanley Uris is a Good Friend, The Forgetting (IT), Wedding Rings, Weddings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:56:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29771682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eddie_writes/pseuds/eddie_writes
Summary: Many people would say that Eddie Tozier is an unusual man. Then again, not many people forget that they're married.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Patricia Blum Uris/Stanley Uris
Kudos: 37





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> New fic! I will eventually get around to finishing my other ones (along with some new ones I've been working on) but I just love this idea so much, I had to share it.
> 
> Title is from Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly.

There are a lot of things about Eddie Tozier that many people would consider weird. 

For starters, he wears a wedding ring but does not remember getting married and can't remember where the ring even came from. Stranger still, he never takes it off. If asked, he'll say that it feels wrong not to wear it, which makes objectively no sense. 

Another weird thing is his last name. Eddie isn't sure why he has a different last name than his mother but he's always just assumed that she went back to her maiden name after his dad died. His dad was probably Frank Tozier. So, to Eddie at least, this is nothing all that weird. 

It's just another ordinary day when his phone rings on the way home from work. With a sigh, he pastes on a smile and answers, falsely cheerful. 

"Edward Tozier speaking." 

And as always, his mother scoffs through his car speakers. Eddie has never understood why she responds like that to his name, but the scoff is normal and expected at this point. Eddie rolls his eyes. 

"Eddie-bear, are you coming for dinner? I'm making your favorite!" 

He grits his teeth. "No Ma, I have plans tonight. I'll be able to visit tomorrow." 

Eddie does not have plans tonight and he does not plan to visit his mother tomorrow either. 

She wails into the phone and Eddie can't hold back his sigh. He cuts off her impending monologue right away. "I've gotta go Ma, someone from work is calling. Bye." 

He hangs up to her protests and curses when the phone begins ringing again barely a minute later. 

"I just said I had to go! I'll call you later Ma," he snaps after answering. 

He's met by a long moment of silence. Eddie huffs, making a particularly sharp turn and flipping off the driver he cut off in the process. He loves driving because it's the perfect outlet for his anger. 

Finally someone laughs over the line. The voice is friendly, if unfamiliar. 

"Hey Eddie, it's Mike Hanlon calling." 

"Mike? I'm sorry, I don't..." 

"We were friends back in Derry. It's okay if you don't remember, none of the others did either. It was a long time ago now." 

Eddie frowns, humming. "Derry... Maine?" 

"Yeah, that's right. You've gotta come back, man. _It's_ back." 

Eddie has no clue what this guy is talking about but he agrees to come back to Derry and meet up with his old friends. 

"Oh and Eddie? I know it's a little out of your way but would you mind picking up Stan for me? He's in Georgia and he was a little nervous to be coming back alone. I think a friendly face will do him some good." 

Eddie agrees again, slowly starting to remember a young boy with curly hair. He remembers bird watching for hours with him. They were close, he thinks. 

"Thank you. I'm a little worried about him, honestly. I'll text you the details," Mike says over the phone, pulling him out of his thoughts. "I've still gotta call Bev so I'll let you go. It's good to hear your voice again." 

"Yeah, see you soon," Eddie says mindlessly before there's the soft beep of the call disconnecting.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie has a headache, arrives in Atlanta and remembers something.

Eddie has a headache the whole flight to Atlanta.    
  
He takes his usual headache medication, and his usual flight anxiety medication, but nothing seems to help. The headache isn't letting up.    
  
By the time his flight lands in Atlanta, Eddie is downright pissed off. His eyebrows are drawn low over his eyes and his grip on his multiple travel bags is white-knuckled.   
  
To top it off, his taxi is late. "Fucking Atlanta," Eddie mumbles, tapping his foot erratically while he waits.    
  
Finally it arrives and Eddie just barely manages politeness to the poor driver. "Traffic was bad, I got caught up in it," she explains meekly. To be fair, she seems just as annoyed about it as Eddie is.    
  
She starts loading his bags into the trunk and Eddie forces a tired smile. "It's alright. Thanks for coming." He looks down at his phone, open already to the address Mike had texted him. "Uh, I have no idea where I'm going exactly, I've never been here before."   
  
Sure, he'd been to Georgia for some work conferences before, but he'd never visited for pleasure... or for whatever _this_ was.    
  
She smiles back, opening his door for him. Vaguely surprised, Eddie nods and slides inside the car.    
  
"That's not a problem," she says. "Visiting a friend?"   
  
He nods again as she gets in and starts the car. "Yeah," he says, though he's not sure what makes him say that, or why he thinks it might be true. "I have an address, um, here." He relays the message from Mike and she seems to know exactly what he's talking about. Thank fuck.    
  
They don't talk much after that. She drives well and Eddie buzzes in the backseat with anxious energy.    
  
About halfway there, something strange happens.   
  
The radio's been playing, some oldies station that Eddie enjoys because he's always enjoyed oldies, and a particular song comes on that makes something in his brain light up. He's struck suddenly by a memory of dancing, steady hands on his waist, broad shoulders under his own hands. Twirling, laughing, a familiar voice in his ear.    
  
This song crooning in the background of it all.    
  
Eddie feels so dizzy then, he almost asks the driver to pull over. Where did that come from? He hasn't danced for years, and never with a man. Has he?   
  
He shakes himself. The song keeps playing. _"With a love so fair and true, oh Peggy."_   
  
Eddie's always loved Buddy Holly, found him charming, despite his nerdy looks and thick glasses. There was something about him that tickled at something in his brain, something that Eddie'd never let himself dwell on for long.    
  
Now, he thinks. Why did this song trigger some kind of sense memory of dancing with a man? The headache intensifies. Eddie glares out the window. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie considers friendships, wonders about his memories, and meets Patty and Stan.

Showing up on a stranger's doorstep is not quite as weird as the door opening to a woman who knows him by name.

Stanley Uris lives in a nice house, bright and big, with tall trees and a well taken care of garden. There's a porch swing in the front, and several bird feeders. Eddie feels some small part of his brain nudge at a memory, though he's certainly never seen this before. He shakes it off.

Eddie knocks on the door nervously, balling his hand into a fist at his side while he waits for the door to open. It does, to reveal a pretty blond woman with the sweetest smile. Eddie awkwardly smiles back.

If Eddie weren't gay, he might even think she's attractive. As it stands, he is very gay but he's comfortable enough in his sexuality to admit that this woman is beautiful. Not that it matters.

"Hi," he says. "I'm uh, here to see Stanley?"

Her eyes light up. "Oh, you must be Eddie! Come on in, Stan's reading out back. I'll let him know you're here."

He follows her inside, head spinning with questions.

"I'm Patty," the woman adds over her shoulder. "Stan's wife."

He could've figured as much but he appreciates the clarification. "Good to meet you Patty."

She chuckles, guiding him to the living room before continuing on through the house. Eddie sits on the edge of a big armchair and looks around.

There are lots of pictures, both of Patty and who he suspects is Stan. There's something familiar there, in Stan's face, his eyes. Eddie almost believes Mike for a moment, about being this man's childhood friend, about having just forgotten him entirely, though Eddie is still not sure how much of what Mike said is true.

Eddie usually has a very good memory so the possibility of him having forgotten a lot of important things makes his skin feel all itchy.

Eddie scratches at his elbow and listens as Patty says, "Stan, your friend is here," somewhere in the house.

Friend. Huh. Is he the only who's forgotten?

It feels good though, in some weird way, to be called a friend. Eddie has never had many friends, only work acquaintances and people from the gym who he talks to out of boredom. But maybe, if Mike was right, he did have friends once. At least three. Mike, Stan... Bev?

He feels warm and unsure, in this big airy house.

Two sets of footsteps from down the hall stop in the living room and Eddie tears his eyes away from a picture of Patty and Stan to see the real Patty and Stan standing in front of him.

Stanley's eyes are wider than in the picture, hair darker than the flash of memory (is it really a memory?) Eddie got while talking to Mike. His expression torn between joy and despair, and his mouth quirks as he takes Eddie in.

"Hey Eddie," he says eventually, and then he steps closer and pulls Eddie into a tight hug.

Eddie, who is not used to hugging, slaps his back a few times and tries not to think about germs. "Hi Stan."


End file.
